A Brief History of Seven Killings

Wed Feb 3 15:09:16 CST 2016

I don’t know now!  I just got the ebook out and started reading and I now don’t know what my problem was.   It’s pretty easy compared to some Youtube videos using Jamaican patois.   But I went back and saw that I purchased the ebook on  August 12 and the Audio version on August 20.   Maybe I just wanted to hear it?  - ?? 

Aha!   The following passage is from my blog review and I see where I did get used to the patois and ended up reading more than listening - loved it.  

"The language is lyrical, breezy and heavily vernacular with no apparent limit on the swearing or graphic descriptions of drug use and violence.  Trying to read patois is why I got the audio book (and it has great reviews at Audible).  Still, it took several chapters to get past that but I ended up reading as much or more than listening because when I did get the rhythm and the flow I understood why one reviewer called James the Faulkner of Jamaica.  He even went so far as to  compare A Brief History of Seven Killings to The Sound and the Fury.  I don’t know as I’d go that far,  but it’s in the ballpark – As I Lay Dying might be a lot more like it – or Libra by Don DeLillo.”

https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com/082015-2/a-brief-history-of-seven-killings/

Becky 

> On Feb 3, 2016, at 7:34 AM, Keith Davis <kbob42 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> When you say you're not familiar with spoken language, do you mean these particular languages that are dealt with in these particular books? You don't have the same issue reading the language you're familiar with? I think that's the point, that someone familiar with the actual sound and rhythm of the language might be as distracted by the watering down as much as you are distracted by the native elements that are included.
> 
> Www.innergroovemusic.com
> 
>> On Feb 3, 2016, at 9:09 AM, Becky Lindroos <bekker2 at icloud.com> wrote:
>> 
>> It may be my problem though, whether I’m a skilled reader or not.  I had the same problem with the center section of Cloud Atlas (with the South Pacific accent). I got an Audible version and totally hooked in.   I think when I read I try to get the rhythm of the spoken language in there - not just the sounds - and I’m really not familiar enough with spoken language to get that rhythmic experience when trying to decipher the phonics of it.  (I’m better now having listened to 26 hours of 7 Killings!)  
>> 
>> Also - I needed the print book for the cast of characters and just following along quite a lot -   I really enjoyed that book - definitely the winner of the Man Booker.   
>> 
>> Becky 
>> 
>>> On Feb 3, 2016, at 5:44 AM, Keith Davis <kbob42 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I suspect that's why he wrote it the way he did. It has enough real patois to give it some flavor, but not so much that it's incomprehensible to those who aren't familiar with it. Since you still had trouble with it, and you're a skilled reader, I would have to question his judgement on that point.
>>> 
>>> Sent from my iPad
>>> 
>>>> On Feb 3, 2016, at 8:30 AM, Becky Lindroos <bekker2 at icloud.com> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> I read it but I also listened to the Audible version because the patois was so hard for me to grasp.  I was so involved with getting the words pronounced right I lost the flow.  The Audible version brought it to life - gave it the speed and rhythm it needed and it sounded great to my California ears - 
>>>> 
>>>> Becky 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>>> On Feb 2, 2016, at 11:30 PM, Jemmy Bloocher <jbloocher at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> I'm also just at the beginning of this, just shy of your 50 and I agree. At least when my Jamaican friend speaks to other Jamaicans I don't understand anything (or very little) and I don't have trouble with this. A necessity I think. When my friend speaks to me she speaks entirely in English. Now I write this it all seems rather contrived modifying in novel form.
>>>>> 
>>>>> On 3 Feb 2016 04:32, "Keith Davis" <kbob42 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Probably sounds stupid and arrogant. He's the Jamaican, not me, and it t does flow. Anybody else read it yet?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Feb 2, 2016, at 11:19 PM, Keith Davis <kbob42 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> With the gift card my son gave me for Christmas, I bought this book, and have delayed gratification as long as possible. I'm about 50 pages in, and I dig it, but I have one comment, which I reserve the right to back off of or see corrected. He's sometimes writing in patois, which is hip, and which those who speak it seem to be able to adjust according to how much they want you to get it, if my own experience is to be relied upon. Even so, it seem like mon white up de patois to mak im mo ez...I can dig it, it can be unintelligible. Just my observation at an early point. It just seems a little uneven or unauthentic. Maybe his characters actually sound like that...
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>> -
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>>> -
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>> 

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